The Dujiangyan Ancient Irrigation Centre.

The Dujiangyan irrigation centre is one of the oldest in the world.

Check out this ancient Chinese irrigation centre built more than 2200 years ago.

The Irrigation Centre is about 40 kms from Chengdu - about an hour on the bus.

It is not just a couple of old irrigation ditches.

It is a large park with a huge river whose flow was diverted according to water levels.

Very clever really!

The principle is quite simple - divert a river one way during flood, another way at other times.

This ancient irrigation system was built in about 256 BC and took several years to build.

The man in charge was Li Bin who was the Governor. The construction was so successful that Li Bin is a much revered person even today.

You can see his statue at the irrigation site.

See the rocky outcrops in the middle of the river in the photograph above.

The Chinese put those there and dug the channel to the right of the photograph. The water is diverted to the Chengdu plains. During floods, excess water flows down the other channel.

The irrigation system still works, irrigatiing over 5,000 square kilometers of fertile land in the Chengdu plains.

This ancient irrigation system has been doing this for over two thousand years - thus providing so much food for China in all this time.

The plaque in the following photograph at the irrigation site describes quite simply the system.

"The dike looks like the crescent of the moon - it divides water on the Minjiang River into two - the outer and inner rivers
- the outer river is the natural river.
When it floods in the rainy season water flows down the outer river - the inner river was dug by Li Bing and his men.
Water here flows down to the Chengdu plains."

This is one of my favourite places in China.

Pretty amazing - don't you think. Still works today!

I have visited this ancient irrigation center in both summer and winter.

In summer there were lots of people. However the area is big enough not to feel too crowded.

One exception though was crossing the river on the suspension bridge.

If you look closely in the photograph you can see it in the background - with lots of people on it!

There are far fewer people in winter if you wish to avoid the crowds.

You can spend most of the day there walking through wooded countryside, beautiful gardens, over suspension bridges and browsing shops and the temple.

There are beautiful gardens to be seen as well as the irrigation site itself.

The landscaped gardens have a water theme with large ponds and many statues and water channels.

Beautiful trees and shrubs grow around the waterways.

There are temples and shops to see as well.

It is a very peaceful place to be!

Allow at least half a day although I could spend a whole day at the ancient Dujiangyan Irrigation Center.

The Dujiangyan Irrigation System is World Heritage listed by Unesco.

How to get there.

However, be patient with the crowds of people particularly in the summer. There were many people at the bus station and at the site itself. If you want isolation, China is not really the place for you.